#EndBadGoverance: No Turn Out In Anambra As Banks, Govt Offices, Schools Shut

Against expectations that the nationwide protests across the country would witness a huge turnout, residents of Anambra State have refused to join the protest.

However commercial banks, schools and government offices were closed for fear of being cut up by the protest while markets operated skeletally in Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi and Ekwulobia.

Similarly, most beer parlours and bars were beehives of activities as young men sat in groups gulping assorted drinks, exchanging pleasantries and chanting anti-protest songs.

Also, most police checkpoints were abandoned by security operatives and vehicular movements were minimal while motor parks were empty.

Despite the non-compliance to the nationwide protest in Anambra state department of soldiers and policemen patrolled round the major cities monitoring human activities at major security flashpoints in the four cities.

A bus driver who gave his name as Nicholas Ibeh said that they have resolved not to take part in the nationwide protests contending that it would be to their disadvantage.

“We are not protesting because in the end we would pay for it and it will affect our businesses”

A trader at the Nnewi auto parts dealer Chief Chijindu Okwuosa told this reporter that traders have learnt their lessons from past protests in the country adding that they cannot afford to make a similar mistake again by joining the protest.

“In the past, once it starts they would target our shops and loot our goods we have also told our fellow Igbo traders in Lagos and Abuja not to join the protest because we all would be blamed and they would call it an Igbo protest and attack us ” he explained.

A staff of a commercial bank in Onitsha noted that they had to close shops in order to avert any eventuality of mobs going to attack banks.

“Banks are also targets during any protest so we have to close and again we have ATM stands so people can still do transactions without opening the banking halls” he said.

Though at the time of filing this report, the Anambra State Police Command is yet to issue any statement on this development but it would be recalled that the Police Commissioner Nnaghe Obono Itam had stated that people are free to protest freely but insisted that they must come up to indicate the routes they are going to follow for the security operatives to guide them.